Before going to sleep, Baekhyun asks Jongin for a brief explanation to find his classroom tomorrow and to his honest surprise, Jongin doesn’t mind at all. Even sounding enthusiastic as he explains which hallways to take and when he turns to Baekhyun, there’s a small smile on his face. Maybe it was just an unpleasant first meeting after all – or maybe it has something to do with being either inside or out of their shared dorm room.

When he lies in bed, his thoughts dare drift off to Chanyeol again, a confusing, but still pleasant buzz present in his stomach. Why do people seem so afraid of him? To Baekhyun, it doesn’t make sense – if anything, Chanyeol seems like an innocent kid in need of his protection. His protection? The thought startles Baekhyun and soon enough, there’s a frown on his face. To steer his thoughts away a little, Baekhyun reminds himself of the friends Chanyeol talked about, he has friends, he can’t be a bad kid.

The first thing Baekhyun notices the next morning when he gets out of his room, freshly showered and dressed in his new school uniform, is that he was right about Jongin’s split personality. He runs into him in the hallway, seeing as his roommate left a little earlier than he did, and is completely ignored. Baekhyun smiles at him, but the smile soon falters, the words you better not call me that ring in his mind. He hadn’t called him Jongin – he didn’t even have the chance to – but he has gotten the message that any form of friendliness is apparently out of the question outside of their room.

Baekhyun is a patient and considerate person, but he still feels bothered by Jongin’s behavior. Like he said to the taller guy before, Baekhyun has done nothing wrong and he doesn’t feel he deserves this treatment. Nevertheless, he lets go of the thoughts for now, to the best of his abilities.

With the friendly directions still fresh in Baekhyun’s mind, he follows that path to end up at a hallway lined with classrooms on either side, much like how it used to be at his old school and he finds the right number. He steps inside together with a good number of other students and while he’s sure he won’t recognize any of their faces soon, his eyes land on Kyungsoo. He sits by the window, next to a tall guy, and they talk animatedly, though keeping their voices surprisingly low. Kyungsoo seems like such a nice person, Baekhyun thinks shamelessly as he wonders whether or not to sit with him, seeing as he’s not alone. However, Kyungsoo coincidentally looks his way and his eyes widen in recognition before a smile blooms on his heart-shaped lips, easily making Baekhyun smile as well.

“Hi!” Kyungsoo says cheerfully, waving Baekhyun over and he does so, though a little reluctantly when looking at the tall guy who has his gaze turned to the table in front of him now. “Come sit with us,” Kyungsoo invites casually and points to the seat behind them, “not that we’ll have a lot of time to chat, got to listen and practice, but you know,” he adds, overwhelmingly kind. And Baekhyun is so surprised that he doesn’t feel that tingly feeling, but he wills the thoughts away. Instead, he takes note of Kyungsoo’s diligent-student-demeanor.

“Sure,” Baekhyun finally replies with a smile and sits at the desk behind Kyungsoo, next to the window. Only then is he introduced to the tall boy, learning his name is Sehun. The boy is a bit shy and awkward, his bro-time with Kyungsoo being cut short, but his reluctant smiles are enough for Baekhyun to brighten the classroom such a tiny amount that nobody notices.

Except for the teacher who just then steps in and assesses his class before saying anything at all. His eyes rest on Baekhyun for a while and the boy is surprised that this is the same man who drove him to EXO in the van yesterday; Joonmyun. A smile is sent his way before the teacher clears his throat.

“Good morning, everyone,” Joonmyun says with an obviously strained and slightly awkward voice, but the students quiet their chatter and repeat after him. Then, he continues in a more relaxed and gentle tone, a lot more pleasant to Baekhyun’s ears. “We’ve got a new student starting from today, he’s sitting right over there,” Joonmyun points at Baekhyun and everyone turns to look at him. At the unwanted and sudden attention, Baekhyun flushes red, but manages a smile. “His name is Baekhyun, please be kind to him,” he finishes the subject with a kind smile before returning to the task at hand. “Let’s begin today’s lesson.” At that, everyone shifts back in their seats to look at Joonmyun, or pretend to do so. “Since we’re halfway through the year, I suppose most of you have got the hang of it, but we want to perfect that control,” he says with a glint in his eyes, though many students don’t pay too much attention to his happy sparkle. “We want you to be able to defend yourself and you’re friends, that’s what magic is all about, isn’t it?” His enthusiasm is met with silence and his students look around a little bit awkwardly, some even rolling their eyes or looking at the ceiling. They have probably heard this a hundred times already and there’s a good chance they’re bored of hearing it all the time. To Baekhyun, however, it’s new and exciting. This will be the first class of the already weirdest year he has ever had and because he does not have the kind of control he believes the others do, he’s all the more excited to start.

Baekhyun listens intently when Joonmyun starts talking about various body parts – his heart, his limbs, things he can find, but then, starts blabbering about his core. Gathering energy right there will make him able to do what others are doing – floating things around or creating different masses in the palms of their hands. It’s chaos – or rather, it feels like chaos to Baekhyun’s overwhelmed mind – and then, a gust of wind sends a chill down his spine. Right in front of him, he sees Sehun cheer ever so slightly at something he apparently hadn’t managed to do before.

Because he doesn’t know how he’s supposed to do all this, Baekhyun settles for watching his friends for now, noticing how a small sphere of earth starts forming in Kyungsoo’s hand. In awe, Baekhyun is about to ask him how he does that, but seeing the painful concentration on the other boy’s face, he decides it’s not the time.

Joonmyun, as the observant teacher he is, keeps a close eye on Baekhyun. He noticed before that the new boy and Kyungsoo were talking to each other in a friendly manner, but he also knows that when Kyungsoo starts his school work, he goes for it. Better not interrupt him, especially because creating earth out of nothing is particularly hard and destroying the concentration could result in things Joonmyun doesn’t want to think about. A smile slips on his face when he remembers how one time, Kyungsoo made the earth tremble beneath the school when Sehun startled him during one of his first practices. Kyungsoo is stronger than he thinks and because of that, he’s – secretly, of course – one of Joonmyun’s favorite students. The man shakes the thoughts off him before he approaches Baekhyun, who still sits there, wondering what to do with his beautiful ability.

“How about I teach you privately for a bit?” he asks, effectively startling Baekhyun out of his own thoughts and immediately, the boy smiles radiantly.

“I think I’d need it – I’m completely lost here,” he says, laughing only the slightest bit awkwardly.

Baekhyun’s mind tricks him into thinking all the other students are pros and it makes him struggle even more to make a ball of light in his hand. Joonmyun talked about that core again, finding the flow of energy in it and channeling it. With his frustration of not knowing what he’s supposed to do, Baekhyun annoys the hell out of the other students. The lights in the classroom flicker violently and the brightness outside is subtly adjusted – entirely out of his control and thankfully, it’s so slight that nobody notices that particular bit.

It all drains him of his energy. Baekhyun is sure he has never felt so frustrated before – normally, he’ll rationalize and get over it in a second. But this is his power, this is something he is supposed to be able to do and yet, he can’t. Nevertheless, because he’s surrounded by others, he laughs it off, telling himself he’ll have plenty of time to practice and get better. Though there’s an annoying thought in his mind telling him that everyone’s so good at this and he fails so miserably.

All too quickly, the class is over, the three hours seemed to fly by without Baekhyun making any significant progress. Kyungsoo tries cheering him up, telling him he has just gotten here and shouldn’t expect too much yet, but the sunlight seems to be fading faster than it should be at this time of day.

“I think I’d best go get some fresh air,” Baekhyun says apologetically with a light chuckle, actually feeling better now that he talked to Kyungsoo for a bit. Nevertheless, he wants to rid himself of all the negative thoughts he’s not used to, so after saying goodbye, he exits through the nearest door.

Baekhyun breathes in deeply, letting the fresh air fill his lungs and feeling how it does do him good. Turning around, he takes a moment to admire the building, seeing it’s his first time outside after he had gotten here yesterday. It all still feels a bit unreal and so he decides to take a seat at a bench placed near the school’s wall and take in his surroundings.

On the other side of the building, where he had gotten in, stood a large castle-wall to shield EXO from the outside world, but not so on this side. Baekhyun is met with a low wooden fence, small gate in place not too far from where he sits. Behind it all is a mystical forest, flowers blooming in exotic colors though the time of year would suggest otherwise. Taking all the view in, Baekhyun felt a burden lift off his shoulders, a burden he only realizes now. He needs to do well for himself, his mom is not around to tell him he can do it, nobody will be affected if he doesn’t do well – except for himself. He starts feeling so relaxed that the sun’s rays become stronger, but because of that, Baekhyun takes note of something a little to his left.

His heart quickly beats in his throat when he whips his head around, scanning the forest, but seeing nothing. Instead, he hears wings flapping and soon after, a rather heavy, dark body rises from the trees. Baekhyun is breathless and immobile – a dragon. Not huge like the ones described in books, but small, relatively speaking. He doesn’t get a good view of the animal at all; all too soon, the dragon has flown off out of his vision. Just as he’s about to stand up and run back inside, find Kyungsoo and gush about his find, he’s abruptly stopped.

“Hi,” he hears behind himself, the low, deep rumble of Chanyeol’s voice and Baekhyun yelps like a girl as he’s so on edge. While he breathes a few times to calm himself, he hears Chanyeol chuckle and those sparks are right back in his stomach. He turns around with a slight blush on his cheeks.

“Don’t sneak up on me, I just saw a dragon,” he emphasizes, but Chanyeol doesn’t seem fazed at all.

“Yeah this one isn’t friendly though, don’t go through the fence if you see it, okay?” Baekhyun blanks, caught off guard – yet again by Chanyeol. Because of his racing heart – dragon nearby and Chanyeol doing things that aren’t particularly supposed to happen – Baekhyun snaps a remark he would take back if he could.

“Oh, so you know friendly dragons.” Baekhyun flinches from his own tone and words, but Chanyeol only nods eagerly, the most innocent smile on his lips. Baekhyun feels his mouth dry.

“Yes, I do! Do you want me to introduce you some time? ‘cause I’m sure they’d like–”

“Chanyeol?” someone interrupts all of a sudden and at the sound of Kyungsoo’s voice, Chanyeol quiets immediately, head down a little. Baekhyun isn’t sure what to think – the conversation was terribly weird, but for the lanky boy to stand there like that… “God… Weren’t you supposed to meet me after class?” he asks in a tone of voice that suggests that Kyungsoo takes care of Chanyeol like he’s a child. Baekhyun can’t deny he is, most of the time. “You do this every time – we never properly hang out anymore!” That was probably the largest amount of hurt Baekhyun has heard in anyone’s voice and it makes everything only more confusing. Kyungsoo’s not afraid of Chanyeol, then? Then, though, the small guy’s large eyes meet Baekhyun’s and a smile blossoms on his lips – thank god, Baekhyun wouldn’t like an equal scolding. “But I’m glad you’re keeping someone else company, hi Baekhyun.” Said boy blanks, too much impressions. He clears his throat.

“Hi,” he says, then insignificantly adds, “I just saw a dragon.” But he can’t keep the smile off his face and his eyes sparkle, but he doesn’t have any idea about that. Kyungsoo looks the complete opposite of him when he takes in those words, though.

“Watch out for dragons, okay? They’re dangerous.” What? So no friendly dragons, then?

“But–” Chanyeol interrupts, with a giant frown on his face, but he’s not able to continue.

“You should be more careful too, Chan. Shall we go?” Chan. Why is that something Baekhyun notices in particular? Chanyeol doesn’t pay attention to Baekhyun’s conflicted face and says some muffled goodbyes before retreating with Kyungsoo.

When they’re gone, Baekhyun wonders what more Chanyeol could have told him. He’s such a mystery to Baekhyun – happy, innocent, yet there’s something underlying… He wanders back inside the building, thoughts with the way Kyungsoo acted like such a hyung to Chanyeol there. However, shadows in the corner of his eye distract him. He whips his head around, quickly feeling the speeding up of his heartbeat again, but he sees nothing. Chills haunt him when he hurries back inside.

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Let me just say-- Thank you SO much for all the comments!! <3 It makes me so happy to hear what you think and that you're interested to find out what's next! I hope you can continue to tell me! <3